Sleep is Death

Jason Rohrer (American, born 1977)

2010

Sleep Is Death, another video game
developed by Jason Rohrer,
is a two-person storytelling game for a
narrator and a player. Each game starts
with a basic set of modifiable characters,
objects, and environments. The player
interacts with and moves around this
world using text commands; the narrator
reacts to the commands, completing
them, writing dialogue, and molding the
scene. Narrator and player alternate
in 30-second turns, thus developing
an improvised narrative. At the end,
the story can be archived in the form
of a slide show to be flipped through like
a picture book. Rohrer’s game turns on
its head the dynamic of human interacting
with artificial intelligence via scripted
patterns; in Sleep Is Death the mind on
the other side of the screen can react,
feel, and perceive, and the game becomes
more of an exchange between partners.